So for a first topic of discussion I thought I’d venture into the world of crowdsourcing, from a B2C perspective.

Market Research is nothing new and I venture that everyone reading this has had some input into a market research plan or filled out a form on the street/at your door. This is obviously an essential part of marketing planning but it can (or has previously been) an expensive element which can only really be applied to a sample of (potential) customers. Not to say that traditional market research is defunct, it most probably is the best method for a range of small and large organisations alike, however with the continuing rise of high-speed internet, social media and “real-time reviews” there does appear to be greater accessibility to the masses.

So crowdsourcing, in plain-english, is asking your target market what they want - and then delivering it. Sounds simple enough but there are a lot of different factors to take into account; costs, practicality, brand message etc, that will alter and filter out some of the raw ideas. These are summed up nicely here.

So in reality you can’t give your target market free reign of your brand as you’d have about 10,000 brand identities and you would be no closer to developing a product that will make a profit. But what the more successful companies (who crowdsource projects) do is provide a set of guidelines and the aim of the project and then open it up to volunteers. Air New Zealand are a good example of this.

By engaging with potential customers in this fashion the hope is that some brand affinity (and then loyalty) will be developed before the product is launched and, in theory, a ready-made customer base is already established.

Where social media really comes into its own in this area is the ease of contact and of supplying User Generated Content (UGC). If the project is creative enough the call for ideas will spread among friends, friends of friends etc and the reach of your brand will be far greater than the original target market.

One recent example of this is Dorito’s King of Ads Campaign, where film-makers (no experience neccessary) were invited to enter an advertisement for Doritos, the top 3 of which are then voted on for by the public - 2 bits of crowdsourcing there with some UGC thrown in for good measure!

So if your worried your brand is becoming distanced from your target market then don’t be afraid to engage with them and ask them for some ideas, and if it can be turned viral; even better!

For some really useful posts, slides and case studies check out this link.

Any other good examples of crowdsourcing initiatives would be great, so please post them!